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Team India defeated Australia yesterday in the Super Eight stage match in Saint Lucia. The game was nothing short of what fans expect from India vs. Australia in ICC tournaments. Skipper Rohit Sharma was the key player who powered the team with a blistering knock of 92 runs from 41 balls. The innings included 7 fours and 8 sixes.
Australia won the toss and bowled first. India lost the wicket of Kohli early in just the second over. The wicket did not impact Rohit Sharma, who went hard on the bowlers in the powerplay. The skipper completed his half-century in just 19 balls. At the end of the powerplay, India was on 60 runs and one wicket in six overs, courtesy of Rohit Sharma.
Hitman Was In Full-Vengeful Mode
Captain Rohit Sharma led India from the front and rained carnage on Australia. In the third over, he smashed Starc for 29 runs by hitting 4 sixes and a four. Rohit scored the fastest fifty of the T20 World Cup 2024 in just 19 balls. When he scored 50, India’s score was 52-1 in 5 overs, that’s the Hitman of India. Rohit continued his beast mode even after the powerplay.
Hitman continued smashing Australia, and as a result, India was 114-2 in the first 10 overs. Hitman was looking too good for Australia, but it was Starc’s yorker-length delivery that kept Htman from his well-deserved hundred by 8 runs.
Rohit Sharma set and broke many records with this inning: Rohit has hit the most sixes (203), a world record in T20, he has scored the most runs (4,165) in the format, Rohit became the first captain to hit 8 sixes in innings in the T20 World Cup, Rohit became the first batter to hit 5 sixes within the powerplay in T20 International.
India Defeats The Mighty Australia
In the last 10 overs of India’s innings, Surykumar Yadav and Shivam Dube kept the charge and scored decent runs. Suryakumar departed at the score of 159-4 in 15 overs by scoring 31 in 16 balls. Hardik Pandya came, then in the 19th over, Dube departed and Jadeja came in. India maintained their run rate of 10-11 till the last over. The run rate hardly went below 10.
India set a target of 206 for the Aussies. Australia loses their first wicket in the sixth ball of the inning. Arshdeep gets Warner caught in the first slip by Suryakumar. From that point on, Matthew Head and Mitchell Marsh take charge. Within the powerplay, India drops two catches on Marsh, and he makes India pay. Both were scoring at a run rate of 10 and had a solid partnership. India needed a wicket, and Kuldeep Yadav did it for India. Marsh gets caught on the boundary by a superb catch from Axar Patel. Marsh departs on 87-2 in 9 overs.
In the first 10 overs, Australia were 99-2 wickets. They needed 107 from the last 10 overs. Maxwell was looking dangerous, but Kuldeep bowled him in the 14th over. 78 needed from 42. Axar strikes in the 15th over by taking Stoinis. 71 needed from 32 balls. Head keeps scoring, but Bumrah finally gets him, and Head departs by scoring 76 from 43 balls. Soon after, Arshdeep takes 2 wickets in the form of Matthew Wade and Tim David. When Tim departed, 40 were needed off 18 balls. In the last over, 29 were needed, but they managed just 5 runs.
India Takes Their Revenge Against Australia
Last year, India lost two ICC tournament finals against Australia. These two finals were the final of the ICC Test Championship and the final of the ODI Cricket World Cup 2023. Both the finals were heartbreaking for all the fans. In these finals, it was Matthew Head who crushed India with his batting by scoring hundreds in both finals. By winning yesterday’s match, India paved the way for Australia to be eliminated from the tournament. Such a sweet revenge!
After this defeat, Australia has just 2 points in three matches of the Super Eight stage. To qualify for the semifinal, Australia’s fate rests on Bangladesh defeating Afghanistan in the last match of the Super Eight stage. India, South Africa, and England have already qualified for the semifinals. Only one spot is remaining, it will either be Afghanistan or Australia. Bangladesh can win, but defeating Afghanistan won’t be easy.